Census
Find out why Scouts carry out an annual census and what support is available to help complete it
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Why we have a census
Scouts carry out an annual census to create a detailed picture of the young people and adults that make up our membership. It's not just about how many members we have, it's our chance to find out about the diversity and make up of Scouting in our communities. Knowing who our members are helps to better inform the services provided to meet the needs of our members.
So it's really important you provide us with the most accurate details possible about Scouting in your community and its members.
The youth census figures also provide information regarding the payment of the national membership fee for youth members and associated membership fees at various levels of the movement.
Getting more help with the census
We have written a guide for each of the main census return types and have also updating our FAQs
You get assistance from the Scout Support Centre by email support@scouts.org.uk or you could try Live Chat which can be found on our website.
Please note the Support Centre will be closed from the 24th December 2024 until the 2nd January 2025.
Getting started with the census
If you've never done the census before or want to prepare for it, we suggest you look through the return guides
Census 2025
The upcoming volunteer experience changes will mean there will be some changes to the volunteer roles you report. The guidance pages will be updated soon and in advance of the passwords being sent.
FAQs
Regular questions that pop up about the census systems, and why we ask some of the questions that we do.
Check out our FAQsApproving the census
Read through our guide for approvers to learn more about approving census returns.
Tools to support the census
Read through our return guides, and access all the tools you need to gather the information to complete the census from parents, volunteers and young people.
Support and downloads